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Monday, 26 April 2010

Isn't it Weird?

During a conference last week we were told that great teachers are normally the weird ones. That sits well with me as I am one of the weirdest people I have ever met. Does that make me a great teacher? I don’t know, that’s not my main worry, or the point of the article. I just want to reiterate my weirdness to you all.

How am I weird? Well, on the surface I am just as normal as you all. Of the course the main problem is that I am hoping you are normal. You are normal, aren’t you? Ok, back to the main point, me and weird.

First of all, I am my own opposite. I love the hot and love the cold. Love heavy metal, love classical. Love hard work, love being lazy. Love people, love being alone. Love women, love women (ok not opposite on everything) See a pattern here? For everything I love, I also love the opposite. I could be bi-polar, but I know I have never bought anything polar in my life!

How’s this for weird. I do not get enjoyment from watching sport, especially on TV. I can watch the AFL grand final, or go to a game every 10th blue moon, but other than that, I just find it boring. I just can’t sit in front of a TV for two hours watching people run around. It sends me to sleep.

I collect things. I have been a collector all my life. Some people would call it hoarding, but I disagree. I collect Star Wars books at the moment. Before this, it was Star Trek books, comics, CD’s, Key rings, sugar packets(oh yeh), and so on. I love to have a complete set of something. Now days most of my collections have been sold off or given away, but I still collect various things. Anyone want some 20 year old sugar?

Finally I am a nerd. I love reading business, marketing and scientific information. I love science fiction. I understand everything the guys on the Big Bang Theory talk about. Give me some glasses, a few pens in my pocket and pull my pants up to my nipples and you can call me Poindexter. But remember I am my own opposite, so I also love camping, fishing, and getting my hands dirty.

So what is the point of all of this? For all of my weirdness (and there are some things that I can’t tell you in this article) I am myself. Years ago I stopped trying to be just like everybody else. I stopped liking their music, their movies, their beliefs and their ideas of what makes a person. I just started being myself. I told peer pressure and the people who love to apply it to get lost and I started living my life.

This changed who I was. Once I was able to be myself and just let myself go I became happier and started to enjoy life. I became popular too. Not because I am weird, just because people wanted to see the real me, not some facade that I was hiding behind. They had been waiting a long time to see the person inside and they accepted me for who I was, not for who I was trying to be.

So today I am asking you to be yourself. Like in your life what you want to like, regardless of what your friends think. Do what you want in your life that you want to do. Your friends, if they are true friends will stand by you, because they want you to be happy. Stop bowing to peer pressure and start enjoying your life.

Your life is too short to be worrying about trying to fit in with people. Be yourself and be happy. And add some weirdness to your life. Step out of your shell and let yourself go.

I’m off to read some books on marketing. Anyone seen my high waste pants with the nipple clips?